injury to lower back

What Would Iron Man Do?



“I am Iron Man.“

I have to admit, I never felt like I could truly relate to the character of Tony Stark (Iron Man).

I feel a close connection with Captain America, and at times I’ve felt like a member of the X-men due to often feeling like the “only one” and being weird in my exercise and diet habits. Finding similarities with a brilliant billionaire playboy who gets kidnapped, builds an arc-reactor in his chest to survive, and then uses said technology to build a super power a full suit to save the world just never clicked with me.

Welp, after my first trip to the doctor in years, it turns out I have WAY more in common with Iron Man than I ever would have imagined.


Broken



The week of November 25th won’t be remembered as my favorite week ever:

Wednesday morning: I interview one of my heroes, Tim Ferriss, and publicly commit to rigorous training sessions three to four times per week of Capoeira before heading to Brazil for Carnival in February.

Thursday: I attend my first Capoeira class here in Nashville – I get through the handstands, cartwheels, and gingas, surviving the 90-minute class excited and energized…but quite sore in my lower back (something that has bothered me for years). I ask the teacher to personally train me three times per week and he agrees.

Friday: I decide that now I have an actual home base, I should probably take care of myself. I go to a doctor to finally figure out why my lower back has been hurting me for so long. After a series of questions, some stretching and range of motion tests, I get x-rays taken. The following conversation takes place:

Doc: Hey, so here are your x-rays. Um, have you ever had a serious fall in the past? Like, 10 years ago or so?
Me: Hmmm, nothing that I can remember? I’ve had back problems for years, but I just kind of dealt with it.
Doc: Well, let’s take a look at your x-ray here (see photo above). Look at your L5 Vertebrae – it’s supposed to line up with the rest of them…it’s off by quite a bit.
Me: Wait, that’s supposed to line up with the rest of them? Ruh roh…
Over the course of the next hour, I’m told I may never deadlift or squat again, and for the time being I definitely need to avoid any lower back-strenuous activities…like capoeira.

I’m not going to lie…for a guy that runs a fitness website, lives for strength training, loves picking up heavy things, and enjoys finding new physical activities that put a tremendous amount of strain on my body, this felt like a sucker punch to the gut.

For once, I’m in a situation that can’t be fixed with just clean eating and strength training. I drove home in a serious funk, feeling like my life was just diverted down a completely different path.

Then the nerd gods intervened.

I walked in my apartment, threw my keys onto the counter, and plopped down on the couch completely depressed. I turned on my TV, and guess what movie had just started five minutes earlier and happened to be on the channel I had watched the night before?

Freaking Iron Man.

Stop the shrapnel



Tony Stark woke up in a terrorist prison cell with an arc reactor protruding from his chest. It turns out, this arc reactor is the only thing keeping the shrapnel embedded in his body from piercing his heart.

Overnight, Tony had been transformed from healthy, wealthy, and wise to a sideshow freak at risk for instantaneous death every minute of every day. After the initial shock wears off, Tony doesn’t sit around and sulk. Hell no. He sucks it up, accepts the fact that he can’t go on living the same way, and starts making changes immediately. It turns out, this drastic and gruesome injury is crucial to Tony’s development as a character.

He needs this massive step back before he can take steps toward becoming a true superhero.

If you’ve had an injury or ailment, recent or chronic, you probably had an initial moment of negativity too. However, no matter how bad it may seem, you still woke up today…which is a pretty damn good start, right?

Instead of getting bummed out that my back is messed up, I’ve instead decided that I’m very lucky that I made the discovery now rather than ignoring the pain for another decade and causing even more serious damage down the road.

If you have a physical ailment, get it looked at. Whether it’s a knee problem, shoulder problem, or lower back problem, you need to find out if you have any “shrapnel pointed at your heart.” You can’t begin building your suit and becoming a superhero until you uncover the challenges you need to overcome.

Once you’ve received your diagnosis you have two options:

OPTION ONE: Complain and use the diagnosis as an excuse for inaction. “Sorry, I can’t exercise, I have a bad knee/back/genetics/whatever. Now, hand me the remote and that pint of ice cream. Damn my poor luck!” Unfortunately, life isn’t fair. Some people get to play life on Easy Mode, while others have to play on Legendary Difficulty. That’s just how it works.

OPTION TWO – Become Iron Man: Identify your shrapnel – get x-rays, a check-up, or whatever you need to identify the source of your ailment. Then, accept that you’ll need to make some changes moving forward if you’re going to rise and become Iron Man. You’re going to realize that through some tinkering you can build a stronger self.

Start building your own Iron Man suit today.

become iron man... http://www.nerdfitness.com/blog/2012/12/08/iron-man/